[mgauss]

My feeling is that the quality of the Treo 600 was carefully orchestrated to be just over passable. The MP3's are actually amazingly clear. Better than when I use the speakerphone!

They should have of course made it higher quality, but it IS good enough!

I think the problem here is that the providers (Sprint, AT&T) still have no idea how good they have it by charging $ 100 a month!!! (which is $ 1,200.00 per year!!! for nothing) when that service really should cost $ 29.95 per month.

In the meantime Handspring of course needs some of that $ 1200 because one cannot make a Treo for $ 50.

As "cheap" $ 29.95 "talk all you want" providers get better (and they ARE coming) the FAT providers will eventually see that to keep a Nerdy person who is willing to pay $ 100 or $50 a month instead of 29.95 or soon to be 19.95 then those providers will help out phone manufacturers.

All that will come down over the next 24 months, where you will be able to buy a Treo 700 with Hi res, and for $100 down and pay $ 50 with all minutes included and data, compared to the dumb phones which will be $ 50 down and $ 19.95 talk all you want to your teenage friends!

[josephtse]

Ok after having this phone for a month, my conclusion is that this phone is going back. i have sprint service, T600. Consistently, when I talk to my friend on my phone, he is barely understandable. He has T-mobile service, and is in Madison, Wi. I am in Springfield, IL. This is only when I'm in the mall or other stores like Walmart and such where he is barely understandable. He come in real loud, but what is sounds like is "wooah wooah wooah wooah wooah, sort of like a muffled loudhorn, you know" I'm countlessly telling him I dont understand a thing you're saying, and too many time's I've told him that. He is so sick of that that it has made me decide to return this phone. Maybe it is HIS side, and maybe T-mobile's reception sucks. Well let me tell you that for sure the T300 has better sound clarity. In my apt, he sounds slightly more understandable, but still i have to listen VERY hard to understand everything he's saying. On the highway, it's about the same as my apt. In certain places, say the open outside, he will be clearer, like when I'm driving in Chicago, but here in Springfield, in the mall, I can't take this anymore. I'm going do one exchange maybe (what a ****ing hassle), try to get Rev. B, and if the sound quality sucks again, I'm gonna sell the pig and go back to my T300. I actually like the T300 better. Overall, it is almost an equal phone than the 600 except for form factor issues. The 600 is faster, that camera I dont even use cause it sucks that bad, the expansioon haven't used yet cause there's too many bugs. Downfalls to the 600-no video player, no MMS, no MP3 ringtones, etc. Because of these shortcomings, along with the poor screen resolution, I would not buy this phone. If they improve the screen AND fix the phone reception (as good as the T300 or better) then I will buy the T700. Otherwise, Handspring is just losing money and credibility. Sad. Tisk tisk.

[The Chupacabra]

Originally posted by josephtse
He cumming real loud, but what is sounds like is "wooah wooah wooah wooah wooah..."

He is so sick of that that it has made me decide to return this phone.

Please stop posting your little fantasies about your boyfriend here, Joseph Tse.

[vespa5]

Gosh Darnit! I knew that I wasn't the only one with these mysterious distortions during my phone calls! I even bought the "high performance" headset to see if that would fix the problem and nope, with or without the headset, I get a steady distortion on and off during a call. I even asked AT&T Wireless to send me a replacement phone thinking that the phone is defective but it isn't just me! I'm glad I found people here with similar problems with their Treo 600. There better be a patch for this or there will be hell to pay (actually, I might just return the darn thing).

[tcjohnsson]

I just got the third replacement phone and as I assumed it has just as much distortion as the first two. This one is also going back. I'm gonna keep racking up those shipping fees for HS/Palm till they get the damn thing right.

I suggest you call for a replacement phone and keep returning them till the problem is fixed. This distortion is absolutely UNACCEPTABLE.

[ManofTrueGod]

Is this problem common in both CDMA and GSM units?

[josephtse]

I just got my RMA number and this phone is going back! Yah! Funny thing is, the phone clarity was crystal clear when talking to the rep at Handspring, and then I told her this is what the other person sounds like when I try to hear them--I put my hand over my mouth and then told her "this is what the other person sounds like when I try to listen to them. Can you understand me? Dont tell me that you can't understand me. I've told that too many times to others on the other line." Of course she didn't understand a word I was saying and she got my point. Now do you all understand what a piece of crap earpiece this phone has? Absolute horrid quality. I'm returning this phone and I'll settle for the Treo 300 for now, might get one of those small cute camera phones from Sprint, but I'm gonna miss web browsing and organizer and stuff..I might just get a real pda..who knows...If sprint offered the nokia 3650 i would very much consider that..heck i would buy it just for its camera and video abilities..amazing...

[vespa5]

I'm stuck between using my crappy Moto T720 or my Treo 600 which is cursed with distorted audio. Now AT&T Wireless is telling me that there is a 2 to 3 week wait on Treo 600s due to popularity, BUT, I was told by customer reps at the local AT&T Wireless stores that this phone is the most RETURNED phone they've had since the Motorola T720. The audio is just getting worse. And i usually get crisp and clean audio in the silicon valley area here in california, and this distortion has gotten worse. makes me wanna try those $5 antenna booster stickers (nah, just kidding, i'm not going to get suckered by metallic ink on a sticker thinking it will boost my RF). Geez-louise, $499.99 and I get a smartphone that crashes and makes mediocre sounding calls. This suks big time. was this phone released by the engineers knowing that they were going to get laid off before the merger? I am stuck with this smartphone for now (dammit)

[rogerkang]

This sucks. I love my treo600 and it pains me to see people unhappy with theirs....

Well, I get really decent sound quality on the phone's ear piece. The speaker phone speaker is also ok most of the time. It's not all the powerful, but like other posts say, it sounds much better playing mp3's!

I'm wondering if this is a software issue at all?

The reason I ask is that, although you can reduce some of the tinniness by using silicon caulk, etc. to reduce any vibrations coming from the speaker against the phone's plastic body, when I use my earbud, I get the same tinniness.

I used this same exact earbud by my Samsung A500 and the sound with that phone was excellent....

So...I'm thinking that maybe Handspring (PalmOne) and/or Sprint can come out with an update? Something that would reduce the sudden loud bursts that cause the distortion? Maybe limit certain frequencies?

Hmmm...

I'm sticking with my Treo, though. I gave up the A500 and Tungsten T3 for it, and have no regrets (although the high res. screen of the T3 was nice).

The Treo is just such a useful tool....

[tcjohnsson]

Just got off the phone with Charlie at palm one tech support and it looks like they are now shrugging off returns and sending people to Sprint to handle their warranty claims. I'll be off to the Sprint store later today (if I can find time between last minute shopping) to see if they'll swap the phone for me. This may be good news for those wanting to return their crappy sounding T600s because you should be able to just do a quick swap at any Sprint store (granted they have the phone in stock). Has anyone else that bought a T600 from palm one returned/exchanged a phone to/with Sprint?

[ilovedessert]

Hi, Funny thing is that I have been told that by friends and family that I sound the clearest I have on any cell phone I have ever owned or when I use friend's phones. I have no complaint about sound quailty in speaking or listening. I have not used the handspring earbud as I hate those things and I am awaiting a better offering from other firms, so I cannot say what if anything the headset has to do with it.I am on sprint and I got my t600 about a few weeks after it came out! Take care, Jay

[drvjmj]

Whew! Some of you guys are pretty worked up over this.
Well in fairness I agree the sound quality using the standard headset is poorer than it was my Treo 300. I would not say it is terrible; just annoying. When I'm driving or there's outside noise, I sometimes even miss numbers or name.

I gave my 300 to my wife so I did a little experiment. I plugged the headset from the 300 into the 600. (Of course the 300 headset answer/disconnect button doesn't work on the 600). But I DID notice the sound was improved. Probably still not as good as it was on the 300, but better than using the standard 600 headset.

Bottom line? The 600 headset is not as good as it should be and probably the IC output introduces some distortion too. HS SHOULD fix this!